Organizing fabric by value, anyone done this?

[Marilynsgrammy]

Just what we need Carolyn... yet another way to sort fabric... ugh.... I tried the color thing once and it sort of worked... but now I have fat quarters in one tote... anything bigger than fq's gots into other totes... scraps go into a different tote and ufo's yet another tote, or two...

I have seen people use shoe organizers for fq's... those hanging kind with a square for each pair of shoes...

but seriously.... how often is your sewing room really neat and tidy and organized? once I clean mine up and start a project it looks like a herd of buffalo ran through it...

Chriss

[Cathy32078]

LOL This has been a fun topic. LOL I tried arranging by color then value a couple of times. Didn't work well. As was mentioned by Lori, I might buy a certain line for a specific quilt or sev. lines for sev. quilts & there my scheme would go. So I gave up. It has ended up kind of all on shelves as I ordered it. I think I am going to go back through it and sort by color. That has worked best for me. Really shows me best what I am so short of. But then there I go with some prints that I don't know where they should go. LOL

Regarding these prints that ya don't know where the heck they should go, HOW do you determine that? Do you go by the background? The dominate color on the whole pc? I need help on this badly.

Hugs & Love

[sadiedaisy1]

I think we all need more room!

Chriss, it sounds like you are describing me & my room! LOL I clean it up as best I can when we have company over (like this weekend) but that means no sewing. As soon as their gone, I pull everything back out that I'm working on and it's a disaster once again. Like I said, I need more room!

I like the idea of shoe boxes for fq's. I've also seen where some have a dresser with shallow drawers for their fq's, which looks really nice, but I don't have the space in my sewing room for another piece of furniture. Right now, I'm using 2 other rooms in addition to my sewing room to work on 1 project-1 has the ironing board in it and 1 has an extra bed and design wall for my finished blocks. At least I'm getting some exercise as I go from room to room several times a day.

[Quilter7]

Lori - You sound like me! I sometimes am in five different rooms when sewing!

I guess we should be grateful if we have a sewing room! Mine is too small and doesn't have a table nor enough electrical outlets to plug in the iron. I am not complaining though! At least I have a room with a place for my sewing machine and a place I can close the door on my projects. I need to learn to only work on one or two projects at a time. I think this would really cut down on the clutter.

[sewbug]

I found that I don't have to sort it by value in order to see the value. I bought a big value screen and all I have to do is hold it up in front of my face and can see the value of all the fabric at one time. A great discovery! Most of my fabric stash is med dark, so now I know what to buy more of.
I bought the big square white craft storage boxes at WalMart to hold UFOs and fat quarter fit perfectly standing up in them. I can see all at one glance. Someone here posted about Target having wire CD basket type holders that are the perfect size for fat quarters. I found a mini fridge plastic coated wire basket at Goodwill that seems to be made for fat quarters, I use that to carry fat quarters to workshops/classes.
I have a big floor basket I keep fabric scraps in and when it gets full I take it to guild and let everyone pick what they want from it. I'd rather the scraps be used then just sitting in the basket waiting for me. I could never use up all of them.

[knitnoid]

I sort my prints into which ever bin I think they go into at the moment. I've got one I keep moving from blue to green. Actually, I've got all my cat prints in one bin, another has novelty prints and a third has florals.

[busylady]

Right now my sewing room is in my bedroom and I have my fabric stashed in under the bed plastic boxes. We are in the process of building on to our house and in the works is a new sewing area that I already know will be toooooooo small. LOL. But at least their is a place where my quilting frame can stay up and not be in the way.

My sewing room in our old house was large. I went to yard sales and bought China cabinets that were tall and had large glass doors. I put the large pieces of material in the bottom doors of the cabinets. Inside the glass doors were fat quarters or 1/2 yard pieces. It was really cool because I could see what I had at a glance.

This question has been a blast. You can see a since of humor in the answers!

[cindyg]

A fabric's color value is relative. If you have a med. blue, for instance, it will have a dark value when placed with pale and light blues. That same med. blue would have a light value if it is placed with navy and dark blues. Does that make sense? So unless the fabric is very pastel or very dark I don't know how you could sort them by value.

I sort mine by color. Theme fabrics and animal prints are separate. If I buy fabrics in a certain line I fold them and tie them up with a ribbon to keep them together. Same with my fairy frosts. If I buy fabrics for a certain quilt I tie those up together with a ribbon, too.

[busylady]

Great idea about cindyg about keeping the fabric together for certain quilt or theme with a ribbon. Thanks for sharing. And you are right after I think about it the value does change depending what fabric it is next too.

[sewbug]

For a quilt that sparkles with the perfect balance of values, scan a small patch of each fabric you want to use. I glue a small square of each on a page of paper. Be sure and label the fabric, and then convert the pic to black and white. You can arrange the fabrics for your quilt according to the value of your fabric. It really makes a difference.